Description & Technical information

Eight-trunk legs carved out of solid walnut, top veneered with approximate 3 mm thick mahogany veneer, surface stained and professionally repolished, brass and cast brass fittings, excellent condition

Excellent Viennese cabinet making

The elephant trunk table was a very popular model and even today it is still being produced by Friedrich Otto Schmidt Co. The lively and delicate execution allows the conclusion that our exemplar comes from early in the production series.

Loos used this table for the first time in 1902 for the study of Dr. Hugo Haberfeld. It was built from forerunner designs from the Anglo-Saxon region such as that presented in the 1899 issue of the "Cabinet Maker" which has an “occasional table" designed by Hampton & Sons. The elephant trunk table was presented for the first time at the winter show of the Austrian Museum for Arts and Industries (today's MAK). One year later, Koloman Moser used it in the XIII th Secession exhibition. Loos also furnished the Turnovsky, Weiss, Friedmann, and Rosenfeld residences with this excellent table.

Date:  1900
Period:  1850-1900
Origin:  Vienna
Medium: solid walnut, 3 mm thick mahogany veneer, brass and cast brass fittings
Dimensions: 67 x 85.5 cm (26³/₈ x 33⁵/₈ inches)
Literature: E. B. Ottillinger, Adolf Loos, Wohnkonzepte und Möbelentwürfe, Vienna, 1994, p. 154, cf. ill. pp. 46, 57; Das Interieur, 1903, p. 14
Categories: Decorative Arts & Design, Furniture